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IICAPS Model Development and Operations (MDO )

Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Service (IICAPS) is a well-established, structured intervention offered to highly stressed families in Connecticut. The program is delivered primarily to children struggling with severe emotional disturbance and their families and is used as an alternative measure to keep children with significant psychiatric needs form being hospitalized. Often children and families in the program struggle with complex, chronic and multigenerational stress, adversity, and trauma.

IICAPS MDO is the clinical and operations quality assurance and improvement arm of the IICAPS Network. MDO faculty provide training and consultation including:

  • Learning Collaborative
    4 monthly live-zoom Learning Sessions, interspersed with action periods of practice and continual improvement over a 6-8 month period, for new Affiliate Agencies or major expansion
  • Reflective Clinical Supervision Group
    1 monthly live-zoom Learning Sessions for supervisors to present clinical material
  • Distance Learning
    On-line, guided, web-based Learning Modules incorporated as part of the Learning Collaborative and for ongoing training
  • Reflective Clinical Consultation and Technical Assistance
    Individually with each affiliate agency

Faculty and Staff

IICAPS Clinical Model

IICAPS provides an intensive in-home family-focused treatment program that helps children and adolescents age 4-18 with complex psychological and behavioral needs returning from – or at risk for hospitalization or placement in detention or a residential treatment facility. The program engages all family members in a strong working partnership between the child, the family, the school and community and includes:

  • Home-based individual and family therapy
  • 24-hour-a-day/7-day-a-week crisis response
  • Reflective parenting and education
  • School consultation
  • A comprehensive treatment plan
  • Trauma informed treatment that helps children learn effective coping and problem-solving skills
  • A process for connecting families to ongoing supports in the community

IICAPS is intended for children aged 4-18 with a significant mental health diagnosis who are at imminent risk of psychiatric hospitalization or residential placement.

What does the program involve?

The intervention is typically delivered for an average of 6 months and uses a family focused, trauma-informed and mentalization-based approach to child, parent, and family psychotherapy. The program also offers comprehensive psychosocial assessments, case management, school coordination, and crisis intervention.

Referrals:

Children appropriate for the IICAPS interventions are being discharged from psychiatric hospitalization or residential treatment, at-risk for institutionalization or hospitalization, or are experiencing increasing acuity and unable to engage in traditional outpatient treatment. We accept referrals that meet criteria from Inpatient units, PRTF, IOPs, Outpatient Clinics, Department of Children and Families, families.

IICAPS Network

IICAPS is available to families through geographically dispersed teams at different agencies. Each team covers a larger region of surrounding towns.

Boys & Girls Village
170 Bennett Street
Bridgeport, CT 06605
Phone: 203-330-6790
www.bgvillage.org
Catchment Area: Greater Bridgeport area, Milford/New Haven area

Bridges
Catchment Area: Greater Milford area and the Valley
941-949 Bridgeport Avenue
Milford, CT 06460
Phone: 203-878-6365
www.bridgesct.org

Catholic Charities
Catchment Area: Hartford
896 Asylum Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Phone: 860-522-8241
www.ccaoh.org

Community Child Guidance Clinic
Catchment Area: Greater Manchester area
317 North Main Street
Manchester, CT 06042
Phone: 203-643-2101
www.ccgcinc.org

Community Health Resources
Catchment Area: Greater Manchester area
587 East Middle Turnpike
Manchester, CT 06040
Phone: 860-646-3888
www.chrhealth.org

Family & Children’s Agency
Catchment Area: Greater Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich areas
9 Mott Avenue
Norwalk, CT 06851
Phone: 203-604-1230 x300
www.familyandchildrensagency.org

Family & Children’s Aid
Catchment Area: Greater Bridgeport area, Greater Danbury area, Greater New Britain area, Greater New Milford area, Greater Shelton area and Valley, Greater Waterbury area, Greater Torrington area and the Northwest Corner
75 West Street
Danbury, CT 06810
Phone: 203-748-5689
www.fcaweb.org

Leo Clinic
Catchment Area: Greater Hartford area
602 New Britain Ave,
Hartford, Connecticut, 06106
Phone: 860-249-0975
https://leoclinic.care/

Middlesex Hospital
Catchment Area: Greater Middletown area, Greater Meriden/Wallingford area, Chester, Durham, Essex and Old Saybrook
38 Crescent Street
Middletown, CT 06457
Phone: 203-358-8749
www.midhosp.org

Village for Families and Children:
Catchment Area: Greater Hartford area
331 Wethersfield Avenue
Hartford, CT 06114
Phone: 860-236-4511
www.thevillage.org

Wellmore, Inc.
Catchment Area: Greater Waterbury area, Greater Torrington area and Northwest Corner
141 East Main Street
Waterbury, CT 06702
Phone: 203-575-0466
www.wellmore.org

Wheeler Clinic
Catchment Area: Greater New Britain and Plainville area, Greater Hartford area
91 Northwest Drive
Plainville, CT 06062
Phone: 860-793-3500
www.wheelerclinic.org

Yale Child Study Center
Catchment Area: New Haven and Greater New Haven, Guilford, Madison, Clinton
230 George St
New Haven, CT 06511
Phone: 203-785-6862
https://www.yalemedicine.org

Research/Projects

IICAPS considers itself Practice Based Research which refers to evidence that is collected in real world scenarios rather than tightly controlled environments. This better reflects the actual work teams do with families with multiple complex comorbidities, financial stressors, and structural inequalities. Our model is flexible and responsive to research and best practices. We use quarterly quality assurance and quality improvement data to demonstrate effectiveness and inform ongoing model development. Learn more on the Child Study Center's research pages.

Publications

Conway, C.A., Decker, L.B., Moffett, S.J., Adnopoz, J. & Woolston, J.L. (2022). Addressing Chronic School Absenteeism Through Intensive Home-Based Psychiatric Treatment: An
Examination of the IICAPS Program. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal

Decker, L. B., Patel, A. A., Conway, C. A., Kim, S., Adnopoz, J., & Woolston, J. L. (2021). When parents and clinicians disagree: Consequences for high-risk youth receiving in-home
family-based psychiatric treatment. Children and Youth Services Review, 121, 105913.

Stob, V., Slade, A., Adnopoz, J., & Woolston, J. (2020). The family cycle: Breaking the intergenerational transmission of trauma through mentalizing. Journal of Infant, Child, andAdolescent Psychotherapy, 19(3), 255-270.

Stob, V., Slade, A., Brotnow, L., Adnopoz, J. & Woolston, J.A. (2019). The Family Cycle: An Activity to Enhance Parents’ Mentalization in Children’s Mental Health Treatment. Journal of Infant, Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy, 18(2), 103-119.

Moffett, S., Brotnow, L., Patel, A., Adnopoz, J., & Woolston, J. (2017). Intensive home-based programs for youth with serious emotional disturbances: A comprehensive review of experimental findings. Children and Youth Services.Review.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.10.004

Barbot, B., Bick, J., Bentley, M. J., Balestracci, K. M., Woolston, J. L., Adnopoz, J. A., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2016). Changes in mental health outcomes with the intensive in-home child and adolescent psychiatric service: A multi-informant, latent consensus approach. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 25(1), 33-43.